Opening concert

Celebrated ensembles perform captivating cantatas 

At the opening concert we present the two world-leading ensembles Collegium Vocale Gent and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus). Cantatas by Georg Friedrich Handel will be performed under the direction of the English rising star conductor Christian Curnyn and the eminent soloists Klara Ek and Thomas Hobbs. By the early 1700s, the young and aspiring Handel had already firmly established himself with the British royal family and the rest of the aristocracy. He wrote numerous commissioned works for the English upper class to commemorate weddings, birthdays and funerals, as well as operas and oratorios. The Ways of Zion Do Mourn was written for and performed at the funeral of Queen Caroline of Ansbach in 1737. England lost a beloved monarch when Caroline died, and Handel lost a very good long-time friend. The cantata in memory of the Queen is one of Handel's most moving and sorrowful works. Two years later, in 1739, Handel composed Ode for St Cecilia's Day, based on a poem by the English poet and literary critic John Dryden. The title refers to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, and the main theme of the text is Pythagoras' theory of Harmonia Mundi: music as a central force in the creation of the universe. The work spans in time from the Creation to Doomsday, with everything depicted in vivid and elegant musical tableaus with jubilant trumpets, violins and organ.